PSEi continues to rise

The local stock market firmed up further yesterday as upbeat China trade data and the rally in Wall Street and oil prices boosted risk-taking across the region.

Rising for the fifth straight session, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 34.44 points or 0.47 percent to close at 7,341.

Local counters rose across the board but buying was mostly on large caps. Despite the PSEi’s gain, decliners (95) narrowly outnumbered advancers (94) at the broader market. Value turnover for the day amounted to P7.7 billion.

Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital, said the local market was perked up by the rally of oil prices after Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed to freeze output ahead of the Doha meeting on Sunday. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla